2nd Tipoff Logged against Constitution Court Hopeful

The Parliamentary Legal Committee has received a second tipoff against Galya Gugusheva, Deputy Head of Bulgaria's Special Anti-mafia Prosecutor's Office of Appeals and candidate for constitutional judge of Bulgaria's right-wing Union of Democratic Forces party, UDF.

It was reported earlier Friday that the Committee has received one letter, signed by Petar Vanev, an attorney in the second largest city of Plovdiv, and lecturer at the Sofia University and the University of National and World Economy, alleging that Gugusheva has been involved in money laundering through businesses linked to her relatives.

The member of the Committee, Dimitar Lazarov, from the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, announced in the afternoon that there are actually two tipoffs, but declined commenting on the content of the second.

The Legal Committee Chair, Iskra Fidosova, was quick to inform that letters have been already sent to the Supreme Judicial Council, VSS, and its Inspectorate, asking them to probe the tipoffs.

Dimo Gyaurov, who is one of the three MPs recently expelled from UDF for refusing to submit in the Parliament the party's nomination for constitutional judge, says there are two possible outcomes – the Committee will approve Gugusheva or a new "Veneta Markovska" scandal would explode and the procedure will start from scratch once again.

Gyaurov, who is a member of the Parliamentary Committee against Corruption and Conflict of Interests, further noted that a possible scandal will hinder the election of a new Chief Prosecutor as well.

Gugusheva's hearing before the Legal Committee is scheduled for December 12, while the parliamentary vote on the nomination will be held on December 19. On December 20, VSS will vote on the nominations for new Chief Prosecutor.

Meanwhile, Fidosova reported that the National Revenue Agency, NRA, has taken on the initiative to do their own probe in the case.

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